By using the add-on, customers can use a Microsoft standard client-access license (CAL) rather than a more costly enterprise CAL, Avaya says. In addition, the add-on software enhances functionality when the OC clients are used with the Avaya Aura communications server.

For example, with the OC client with the add-on, if the device running the client reboots for some reason during a call, the call can automatically be transferred to other devices, keeping the call intact.

The add-on is part of an upgrade to Avaya's Agile Communications Environment (ACE) platform, software bought last year as part of Avaya's purchase of Nortel that it has been integrating with Avaya products.

ACE already supports about 10 shrink wrapped applications that interoperate with Aura, and the Microsoft add-on is another. Avaya's products already offered similar support for IBM Sametime and Lotus Notes clients, and the latest release of ACE extends that functionality to the latest release of the IBM software, Avaya says.

The new version of ACE also includes Foundation Toolkit, which enables customers to sequence individual applications to make more complex, custom applications. For example, a lawyer talking to a client might use an application that blends recording with transcription applications within a billing application, so the call can be played back as well as read, Avaya says.